Story and photos by Mark Wing e-mail link
Saturday PM (May 3rd)
After returning from Russell’s Travel Center and visiting the Ellis’ car collection, everyone relaxed before dinner. At that time, Richard and Gail Talley, owners of the Safari Motel, presented a nice print to Larry to be raffled off for the club. Thank you Richard and Gail!
The traditional tour banquet was at Del’s Restaurant on Route 66. The dinner was bittersweet as we were saying goodbye to long-time Tin Lizzie members Russell and Julie Dilts who are relocating to New Orleans. To give them a proper send off, Bernice, Stan, Lorna, Janice, and Sharon performed a hilarious sendup of the “So Long, Farewell” song from the Sound of Music! Everyone was doubled over with laughter! The dinner was followed by a goodbye cake for Julie and Russell as well as their own personal “rubber chicken” to commemorate their recent breakdown. The food and the service at Del’s was excellent and everyone had a great time!
Sunday (May 4th)
Sunday was spent loading our cars onto our trailers and traveling home. This was a wonderful tour and many thanks go out to Orlando, Melody, and Ethan Ortega (tour organizers); our friends (old and new) from Amarillo; Patsy Gresham and the Tucumcari Chamber of Commerce; Kristin Taylor and the generous residents of San Jon; Danny and Linda Ellis (fellow car collectors), Daniel Martinez and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff at Conchas Dam; Carlos and Neva Romero (La Tiendita), Russell’s Travel Center, Richard and Gail Talley (Safari Motel), and Kevin and Nancy Mueller (Blue Swallow Motel); Larry Azevedo (and others) for troubleshooting ailing cars; and Tom and Kathy Miles for coordination and bailing tour members out with their modern truck!
